Julep Courteney Nail Vernis Review

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Julep's Courteney Nail Vernis is described as a key lime creme. This salon brand's polishes are 4 free, meaning the formula doesn't contain harmful ingredients like toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, and DBP. The formula is claimed to be chip resistant. Julep sent this polish to me for review purposes, in a sample Julep Maven box. Julep polishes are very small, they contain only 8ml (.27fl oz), half the size of an average polish. Not only are Julep polishes small, they're very expensive, selling for $14. Julep products can be bought individually on the company's website, through Sephora*, or in their four nail parlors, all located in Washington State. You can also subscribe for a monthly box of Julep products, called the Julep Maven box, which costs $20 a month. Julep products are made in the United States and are not tested on animals.

I really like Julep's packaging, it's sleek and unique.These polishes come in thin, square, tall, glass bottles, topped with square, black plastic caps. The name of the product is on the front of the bottle. Company info and directions are found on the back of the bottle. The ingredients can be found on a peel off sticker on the back of the cap, the name of the polish on a stick on the bottom. The bottles look fancy, you can tell the polish is expensive. One little detail ruins the sleek, classy look of the bottle. One side of the bottle is awkwardly and messily painted black, like it's supposed to be a window to see how much polish you have left. It looks sloppy and kinda ruins the look of the bottle for me. By the way, packaging is recyclable.

Julep describes the brush as flat, with micro frayed bristles. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I can draw a general conclusion. The brush has a long wand, the brush it's self is pretty long as well. It's flat and thin with the right amount of give. All the bristles stay in place and move together in one uniform motion.

Courteney seems to have a good consistency. It applies kinda strangely. The first coat goes on sheer and separates on the nail. The next coat evens everything out, but it's too busy evening the polish to achieve full opacity. The third and final coat finally makes Courteney opaque, but by now you have a lot of polish on the nail. It looks thick and awkward. The cream finish isn't very shiny, it actually could pass for a rubber finish, something I'm not a fan of. I feel like Courteney needs a top coat for it's full shine potential.

Julep's description of Courteney, a key lime green, is pretty spot on. It's light but not pastel, and neutral. It can kinda look like a pea green in some lights. I like this kind of green, so I was pleased to receive it. This color is from the American Beauty line, even though I got it in a Boho Glam box. Courteney is a really nice color for spring and summer. I haven't tried it yet, but I think I'd prefer it on my toes. This color is pretty unique in my opinion, I haven't owned a shade like this, or really seen one for a while. The only one I can think of that's similar is a Wet n Wild polish I had many years ago.

I've had variable wear time from Courteney. I've worn this polish three times, the first time I got two days with a fair amount of chipping, the second time four days of flawless wear, and just yesterday I couldn't keep this stuff on for more than a couple hours. That averages to about two days, which is decent for me, but I would expect more for such an expensive polish. Courteney doesn't chip too badly, it's surprisingly resistant to tip wear.

Julep's Courteney is ok. I wouldn't pay full price for it. I could buy two China Glazes for $14 and get much better wear and much more polish. Just three applications has already put a dent in my bottle. I like the packaging for the most part, the color is unique and fun to wear, wear is decent. I just wish the wear was a little more predictable. I don't recommend buying any Julep polishes individually unless there's a sale or coupon code. If you want to try Julep products, sign up for their Maven boxes, they're a much better value.

They're a horrible value, but decent if you get the monthly box. You can't choose your colors though, so I guess you can't really win. You get a steep discount on them if you're signed up for the box, but they're still pricey for what you get.